Standard
serving sizes are confusing and misleading. As an R.D., I'm constantly
encouraging people to learn about the foods they eat by reading the Nutrition
Facts panel and ingredients list on packaged foods. That information
is valuable--but only if you know how to interpret it. In order to really know
what you're eating, you'll probably need the assistance of a food scale, a
conversion chart and definitely a calculator. No wonder so many consumers feel
confused!

-Originally
implemented in the early 1990’s, they were created to help compare one product
to another using a set portion size. It works great if you are simply comparing
one loaf of bread to another. But with rising rates of obesity and an increased
interest in nutrition,
many people use that label for much more than the simple “which is better”
question. It doesn’t always answer it.

-Standard
servings tend to be small portions in comparison to what Americans actually
eat.

-Calorie
conversions per serving size aren’t always that simple: For example, in order
to truly know the calories
in a serving of pasta,
you’d have to convert the serving size from dry ounces (currently “standard”)
to cooked cups. This is where the calculator, chart and scale would come into
play.

These
kinds of conversions are something I do as a dietitian everyday–and I can’t do
it easily. How can it be expected that someone who isn’t a dietitian could do
it?

The Food
& Drug Administration is
trying to clear up the confusion by proposing front-of-package
labeling that more closely reflects what we actually eat. The FDA is talking of
putting the serving information on the front of the package and calculating it
based on larger portions, on the assumption it will be easier to understand.
For example, instead of using 1 cup of pasta as a standard serving, should they
increase it to 3 cups which would in turn show that you are consuming 600
calories “per serving” not 200? Sound confusing? I think it might be…

Here’s
what I propose:

-Put
the focus on the units of the serving sizes. If common units such as measured
cups (eg. 1 cup cooked pasta) and straight numbers (ex. 12 crackers) were used,
it would be much easier to know how much you are actually consuming. I hate to
admit that we do eat large portions, but since we do, maybe providing a little
shock value by showing the numbers could change people’s ways.

-An
easy solution would be the addition of a second column of calculated
information alongside the single serving that displays how much is in the
entire package. For example:

Lay’s
Potato Chips

Amount per 1 serving

(1 ounce or 15 chips)

Amount per Entire Bag

(11 ounces)

Calories

150 kcal

1,650 kcal

Fat
(grams)

10 g

110 g

Saturated
Fat (grams)

1 g

11 g

Sodium
(milligrams)

180 mg

1,980 mg

-The
question of where this information should be displayed (front, back or side of
package) doesn’t seem as important to me as making sure the information is easy
to understand. But, from my experience, anything you find on the front of a
package is strictly advertising (and they’d choose to tout the good and not the
bad on the front of the package). This seems more misleading to me than
helpful.

Whatever
the FDA decides to do, I hope they
have a good public education campaign to go along with it! For now we
dietitians have to keep working on our own to educate those we meet in our jobs
everyday and adjust our message according to any change that occurs.